Tea Rinsing Not Working? Try Drinking It....Benefits of Green Tea

Here is a forgotten post I found in my drafts from 2016. It is very relevant so I am sharing now.

Tea rinsing has been one of the things that I have tried but never stuck with during my healthy hair journey.  As you may know, tea rinsing is said to help reduce the shedding in order to maintain thicker hair.  I have not kept up with tea rinsing. The main reason for this is to reduce the many steps of my wash day.  I didn't mind skipping this step

Wash Day|More Experimenting with Tea Rinsing

In my last wash day post, I introduced tea rinsing back into the mix.  After noticing the reduced shedding, I knew that tea rinsing was here to stay.  I'm still trying to find ways to make it work within my regiment, however. I don't care for the drying stiff feeling that I usually get, so I've been playing around with my mix.  See below for the tea concoction that I used this time around. You'll notice that I used the same products as before with an extra addition....coconut oil!

Let's Get Into My Wash Day Experience....

1.  I'm not even sure if I should call this a prepoo. I applied Silk Dreams Wheat Germ Butter Conditioner on Sunday evening and detangled my hair with every intention of washing that night, but um....it was getting pretty late. Knowing how long it takes me to wash and blow dry, I knew I didn't have it in me. So in a bun my hair went. It wasn't until Tuesday night that I actually washed my hair. So I had a nice 2 day prepoo. My hair felt so moisturized.  

2. Shampooed with the last bit of ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo diluted in an applicator bottle. I get so excited when I empty product, because I know I have way too much (even after giving my mom several bottles of shampoo). LOL

3. I then applied my tea rinse mixture. This time I steeped only one tea bag instead of two and I added coconut oil to the mix.  My hair did not feel dried out or stripped. I really thought I was on to something with this mix.

4. After rinsing,, I deep conditioned under my heat cap with Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque.

5. After t-shirt drying for a few minutes I applied my leave-ins which were Annabelle's Moisturizing Leave in Conditioner in the Vanilla Bean scent (My Giveaway win from Relaxed Thairapy. as well as Annabelle's Hair Creme in Birthday Cake Scent) and GVP Smoothing Serum.

I used the tension method to blow dry my hair on cool/luke warm temp. My hair seemed to dry faster than usual and felt a bit dry. I'm not quite sure what caused this. I think I should have sealed with a different product. I don't think I've ever used the GVP Smoothing Serum alone as a sealant when blow drying.  I also noticed that the bits of slippery elm and marshmallow root that seeped through the strainer were still in my hair and flying out as I blow dried, which was frustrating. I didn't notice this on my last wash because I used curlformers.  So now I have to go back to the drawing board with my tea mix.

I decided to just keep it simple and rock my usual bun.  I love low maintenance styles. 

All in all, it was a decent wash day. I've most definitely had worse. If you haven't heard any relaxer talk form me, then it must have been a good one. LOL

So how was your wash day? Head on over to Saving Our Strands or Just Grow Already and share your wash day post in the #WashDayExperience Link Up.

HHG!

July Goals

Wow! Another month has flown by! My how time flies when you're having fun.  Well with the new month comes new goals (some recurring) of course.  Before I get into my July goals, let me first recap my goals for June.

June Goals Recap

1.  Heat free styling - FAIL ... Well I was doing very well not to have used any form of direct or even indirect heat since April.  Well....Friday June 28 I did a ponytail rollerset and allowed it to air dry overnight.  Saturday afternoon I decided to break my no heat rule and flat iron my roots.  I was getting ready for a get together with some friends and really wanted my hair to look cute so...that was a FAIL.  However that was the ONLY time I used my flatiron so I think I still did pretty good.

Results of my ponytail roller set after flat ironing roots

2.  Deep Condition With Steam Once A Week - SUCCESS- I successfully DC'd using steam every wash.  Proud of me on this one!

3.  No new hair purchases for the month - I also claim this as a SUCCESS - I was not including accessories just hair products i.e. shampoo, conditioners, oils, etc.  It was very hard, and believe me I walked down the hair product aisle every chance I got, but I did not buy anything.  I even held out on the Wal-Mart salon's Buy 1 Get 2 Free sale (I was really eyeing that PMSS Daily Treatment).  It so happens that my awesome sis purchased a bottle for me as she bought some items for herself. Woot!

4. Workout three times per week - FAIL - I started off really well, but it started to fall apart toward the end of week two.  This was the one that I knew I would have the hardest time with.  My summer class kind of held me up on that end. Summer courses are so much more demanding because you're cramming a whole semesters worth of material in just a few weeks.  Work, class, studying, and hair took up most of my time. Lol

My Goals for July

1. Exercise at least 3 times a week
2. Continue to steam once a week
3. Tea rinse once a week
4. Drink 1 cup of bamboo leaf tea nightly
5. No more than 1 new product purchase this month (I better pick something good)
6. Up my water intake (64 oz per day including my cup of bamboo leaf tea)


I'm hoping I can hold up this month. I should definitely be able to get my workouts in since I have a little more time.  We shall see.

Were your able to report success with your June goals? What are your goals for this month?

Thanks for reading,

   Andrea 

Wash Day

So Saturday I decided to wash my hair.  I'll also mention that I tried out a cowash on Thursday with my ORS Hair Mayonaise.  I applied it and sat under my heating cap for about 30 minutes.  I'm not sure if this technically counts as cowashing since it was a DC, but isn't cowashing just washing with conditioner only? So thats why I call it that.  I rinsed and did not shampoo, applied my leave-ins and air dried overnight.  It looked a poofy mess! lol! Threw it up in a clip for work (after taming it of course).  I just thought I might need a little moisturizng and protein.

Anyway, back to my wash day.  I pre-pooed with grapeseed oil and platted my hair into 14 braids (thought I'd give the braids another try, but don't think I'll be doing it again; to tedious for me and hard to get all the conditioner out while my hair is braided).  I shampooed with Clean Slate shampoo diluted with water in an applicator bottle applying to my scalp.

Next I applied a green tea rinse (first time with this).  I finally ran out of my black tea stash and decided to try out the green tea.  I let it steep and cool off that morning for a few hours (I usually don't do this because I'm always getting it ready at the last minute).  I was hoping it'd be more effective this way.  It was REALLY cold by the time I applied it to my hair.  Other than that my hair felt amazing no hardness or dryness.  I actually let it sit longer on my hair and scalp than I usually do.  I had been only leaving the black tea on for maybe 2 or 3 minutes while in the shower.  This time I got out and let it sit while I attended to other things.  I ended up DC'ing on top of the tea rinse with Redken Heavy Cream Super Treatment under my steamer for 20 minutes.  After my hair cooled off, back into the shower I went.  I rinsed out the conditioner and tea and then applied Roux Porosity Control for 30 seconds to close up my cuticles.  By this time I had abandoned the braids.  My hair was very easy to detangle with my seamless comb as I rinsed. 

Next I towel dried my hair lightly and allowed my hair to air dry until it was about 90% dry.  I then applied my leaveins (Darcy's Daily Leave-In and PM Super Skinny Serum).  Tied my new 100% silk scarf around my edges to make them lie flat.  My scarf had arrived just in time for my wash (right in the middle of it actually). LOL! Love it by the way. Got it on amazon.




30" x 30" | was supposed to be fuschia but looks more pink
still love it! :)

Once my hair was mostly dry, I decided to try out a twist on the rollerset. I've seen it done on other blogs but don't know the name for it.  I basically put my hair into several little ponies (hoping it would help to stretch my ng).  Then I moisturized the loose hair with DB's Coconut Lemongrass Transition Creme, wet my hair, and set with my magnetic rollers.  Let them air dry overnight (not fun to sleep in); however the results were smooth manageable hair. Yay! This may be my new routine.  With a regular rollerset I was worried about having to flat iron my roots and I do not want to do that.  This was a good alternative.  I don't plan on wearing it down I just like for my hair and ends especially to feel smoother after my washes and the last couple I haven't achieved this.  Very happy about it.  Now I'm throwing my hair up in my clip. LOL!


Sorry if this post is a bit disorganized. Thought I throw it up right quick, because I started to feel a little lazy I almost didnt post at all.  Shame on me.  I was much much happier with this wash so I had to post. :)   I am about 4 1/2 weeks post right now.  Still having the texlaxed hair issues going on so this new rollerset method helped.  On my next relaxer I plan to use ORS Olive Oil Lye Relaxer in Regular Strength instead of the Mild Relaxer I have been using.  I still want to try to stay texlaxed but just not with so much texture.  Hoping this will work out better for me.  I will probably stretch around 8 weeks this time (not quite a long term stretcher yet).  Plus I am going to visit family around that time so I want my hair to look decent.

Another side note, I've been all over the Long Hare Care Forum for new hair tips and have so many things I want to try.  Several ladies expressed that they use S-Curl to help with stretching.  I also got a good tip on Aloe Vera Juice rinses from Lydz at Crowning Glory and I've heard tell of it on the LHCF as well.  Another one I read about on a LHCF thread was the french perm stabilizer.  I'd like to do some research on this. There are so many things I want to try and I'm learning so much from the ladies on the LHCF and my fellow hair obsessed bloggers.  I am still on that search for my perfect regimen, that's what a journey is all about, right?

Well, thanks for reading and Happy Hair Growing!!! :)

Andrea